Collaborative intelligence in cancer care

Published in

Vujà Dé Magazine

9 min readMar 17, 2022

An inspiring and supportive environment, built from a deep understanding of the needs of people with cancer, and powered by intelligent partnerships. Welcome to the world of Maggie’s Cancer Centres.

Great minds don’t think alike…they work together.

Today’s fast-paced world comes with complex, multifaceted problems that cannot be solved by one discipline alone. Instead, it requires us more than ever to collaborate, co-create and make new ideas come to life.

Perhaps there is no field where the above is truer than cancer care.

Cancer affects much more than the body. It affects the patient’s mind, confidence and ability to interact with, and contribute to society. It also affects those around them and the society at large.

Therefore, no single profession, no single institution, no single drug can solve the problem of cancer alone. But smart, intelligent collaborations can make a massive difference.

This is why I would like to pay tribute to a wonderful example of cancer care that is firmly rooted within patient needs, and nurtured by intelligent collaborations.

Maggie’s cancer care

Maggie’s cancer care centres are the brainchild of Maggie Jencks, who used her own experience of breast cancer to create the blueprint for a unique approach to cancer care. In her essay, View From the Frontline, Maggie quotes a vivid description of what it feels like to be treated for cancer:

“[Cancer is like] a parachute jump, without a map, behind enemy lines. There you are, the future patient, quietly progressing with other passengers towards a distant destination when, astonishingly, (Why me?) a large hole opens in the floor next to you. People in white coats appear, help you into a parachute and — no time to think — out you go. Aaaiiiieeeee!

If you’re lucky the parachute opens. You descend. You hit the ground. You crawl upright. You are surrounded by a thick fog through which a crowd of dimly discernable figures call and gesture ‘Here! This way!’ But where is the enemy? What is the enemy? What is it up to? Is it here, behind this bush? Over there? Near? Far? And which way is home?

No road. No compass. No map. No training. Is there something you should know and don’t? The white coats are far, far away, strapping others into their parachutes. Occasionally they wave but, even if you ask them, they don’t know the answers. They are up there in the Jumbo, involved with parachutes, not map-making. [Taken from Choices In Healing, Michael Lerner]

Meantime I am down here in the war zone, trying to figure out my map.”

Maggie believed in empowering people to find their own compass, to take care of themselves in the way that fits them as individuals. She envisaged spaces where people can explore their emotions and feelings and find the tools to help them help themselves.

Fast forward 20+ years, and her vision has been translated into over 30 physical centres in the UK, Hong Kong and Japan. The centres offer a welcoming environment, information and access to cancer professionals for people with cancer, their families and friends.

These services are brought to life through the collaborative work of at least a dozen different types of professionals: Oncologists, specialist nurses, clinical psychologists, architects, landscape designers, nutritionists, art therapists, beauty professionals…The list goes on, but each and every one’s expertise is leveraged to achieve one objective: to help people with cancer help themselves in the best way possible.

Turning vision into reality

I reached out to Maggie’s Chief Operating Officer, Ann-Louise Ward to find out how they used collaborations to make the charity’s vision a reality and deliver it to such high standards. Here are five key things that I learned from our conversation:

1. Start with a strong and clear vision

Maggie’s vision is loud and clear as summed up by Ann-Louise:

“We don’t do anything unless it’s going to have a positive impact on people’s lives.”

Everything that Maggie’s centres offer is designed with patients and their families in mind. The beautiful gardens are designed to create a sense of calm as one walks from the busy hospital environment or the bustling city to the centre.

The centres have no reception desks or signs on the doors. Instead, the heart of each centre is a big kitchen table, creating an informal, homely environment. Interiors are designed to spark people’s curiosity and imagination and give them a sense of possibilities.

Maggie’s programme of support was developed to complement the treatment provided at the hospital and covers a wide range of practical, emotional and social issues. The programme encourages participants to take charge of their well-being through expert-led courses in nutrition, exercise, stress relief and relaxation as well as other community-specific courses.

2. Have a good understanding of unmet need

The starting point for Maggie’s support programme is a strong sense of empathy and a continuous quest to remain in tune with the changing needs of people with cancer.

Central to this is a focus on listening to the hundreds of people that visit Maggie’s centres every day, and a close collaboration with the NHS.

All Maggie’s UK centres are built on the grounds of NHS cancer sites. This creates many opportunities for continuous collaboration.

For example, an NHS oncologist or nurse may identify a specific need or have a particular interest in an area of unmet need. They can then work together with Maggie’s to develop and co-facilitate a course for people with cancer and/or their families. Ann-Louise explains:

” That’s when it works at the absolute best because you know that the hospital are identifying needs that are coming through from the patients they are seeing.”

3. Identify synergies and tap into people’s passions

A considerable part of Maggie’s offering is based on building relationships and collaborations with other organisations that share Maggie’s vision and that can enhance their offering.

Starting with the NHS…

“When we go and build a Maggie centre we look for a desire from the clinical team to want to work in partnership with an organisation that means that they are able to enhance the support that they provide for people with cancer. So we will work with hospitals where there is an ambition and a desire and ability to do that.”

…and architects…

At the heart of Maggie’s approach to cancer care is the belief-supported by evidence-that the environment can have a strong influence on well-being. Maggie’s centres were designed by world-renowned innovative architects. Each centre is unique, a reminder that each patient is a unique individual and should be cared for as such.

“We work very closely with architects to create these spaces and we believe strongly in the fact that there is a direct synergy between the professionals who deliver the care who are hugely important but also the environment in which people are cared for.

By bringing both of these things together we believe that’s when the real magic can happen. People feel enabled in an environment that is warm and welcoming.”

…and other organisations with complementary strengths.

When Maggie’s identified a growing need to support men after completion of their prostate cancer treatment, they partnered up with Prostate Cancer UK to deliver a six-week course. The course was presented by experts on specific topics and offered participants the opportunity to discuss and set personal goals.

Another partnership, with the charity Look Good Feel Better, enabled Maggie’s Centres to leverage the expertise of beauty professionals and offer a course that teaches women and men with cancer how to manage some of the visible side-effects of treatment.

By partnering up with other organisations, Maggie’s is able to provide a broader offering while enabling more people to benefit from their partners’ programmes. In doing so, they leverage the expertise and passion of specialists, avoiding duplication and maximising impact.

4. Never stop learning, never stop evolving

Continuous learning and evolution was a recurring theme in my conversation with Ann-Louise.

The charity keeps up to date with advances in cancer research, with help from its professional advisory network and research group, and through building relationships with other organisations such as patient advocacy groups and the private sector. It continuously evaluates the programmes it offers to ensure that they meet an existing need.

“We are always thinking about what is going on in the wider cancer field and staying in touch with the research world… that helps form our thinking around what cancer is going to look like in the next 5, 10, 20 years.”

Ann-Louise explains why this is important:

“We’re still learning all the time because cancer is evolving and changing, and in terms of the world that we operate in…we’re starting to see new drugs and new treatments. What would the long-term effects be in 15, 20 years’ time? How might we need to tailor the support to make sure that we can continually support people’s needs in the future?”

5. Evaluate meticulously

Evaluating the outcomes of a programme is often tricky, especially when it involves dealing with intangible things like people’s emotions. I asked Ann-Louise how Maggie’s centres evaluate their programme of support, and was very impressed with the sophistication of their approach:

First there is an internal framework, based on Maggie’s experience of patients’ needs and on external research in the wider cancer field. This continuously-evolving framework sets the bar for the quality of care that Maggie’s strives to provide.

Internationally-recognised experts in psycho-social oncology are invited to visit a selection of Maggie’s centres to review the support programme and its delivery, and offer expert guidance on the future development of the programme, its delivery and quality.

Core programmes such as Stress Management and Nutrition are evaluated through feedback from course participants. The feedback determines whether the course is in line with what is expected from external research and from the needs expressed by people with cancer.

There is also a regular audit looking at people’s experience of visiting Maggie’s centres: How they find the support, the environment, the programmes offered and if/how these meet their needs.

Then there are internal reviews, when reviewers from within Maggie’s experience the offering at a particular centre and talk to the staff, and to the people coming through the doors to understand where things are working well and where they need to be tweaked or improved. These reviews look at the quality of care provided but also at the development needs for staff.

Having spent some time learning about Maggie’s I would also add that the fast growth of the organisation from one pilot in 1996, to 22 physical centres and an online centre in 2019, to a projected 30 in 2022 is a testament to the value that this charity brings in the lives of people with cancer.

Maggie’s way of working illustrates how different organisations and different disciplines can bring their expertise and resources together, to ultimately deliver successful and meaningful solutions that make a difference in the lives of people with cancer.